Nearly 20,000 people packed into New York City’s Times Square earlier this month for “Alive from New York,” a pro-life celebration organized by Focus on the Family.
The 90-minute event featured live music from Francesca Battistelli and Phil King, as well as an inspiring cast of speakers including evangelist Alveda King, former NFL star Benjamin Watson, actress Ashley Bratcher, pro-life stalwarts Marjorie Dannenfelser and Christina Bennett, and abortion survivors Melissa Ohden, Josiah Presley, and Claire Culwell
A highlight of the event was a live 4D ultrasound of a baby in the third trimester of pregnancy, which was broadcast on onstage. (Focus on the Family originally planned to broadcast on the massive digital billboards of Times Square, but were turned away by their owners, and therefore had to bring in its own digital billboard.)
Recalling what he described as “the seminal moment,” “an amazing moment,” and a moment “I will never forget,” Salem Radio talk show host Kevin McCullough said “a quiet fell across the multiple blocks that was so deafening you could literally have heard a pin drop.”
“No angry chants in protests. No applause of agreement. Just a sleepy little baby’s face, in beautiful 4D, staring out across New York City’s busiest neighborhoods,” he reported in a column.
The mother of the baby is Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood director whose inspiring journey of transformation reached the big screen earlier this year with the theatrical release of Unplanned, which was screened at NRB’s Proclaim 19 Convention.
“I was so honored to be apart of Alive from New York with @FocusFamily,” tweeted Johnson, who is today one of the most ardent pro-life speakers in America. “And even more honored that I got to share our sweet little baby with the world!!!”
Focus on the Family launched “Alive from New York” in response to troubling legislative actions taken by pro-abortion lawmakers since the beginning of the year, including the United States Senate’s failure to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, New York’s expansion of abortion rights, and the proposed Virginia law for which proponents argued that abortion should be legal right up to birth – or even beyond.
Focus on the Family’s president, Jim Daly, said the organization’s May 4 event was held as a celebration of life as well as to serve as a platform to show the world through 4D ultrasound that a third trimester baby is indeed just that: a baby.
“A life worthy of protection and deserving of respect,” added Daly in a press release.
In looking back on the event, Daly recalled how he “had the strong sense that the tide is turning toward life” as he stood in the middle of Manhattan.
“The climb is still steep and the forces aligned against us are substantial, but the Lord is mighty and moving in wondrous ways,” he shared in his blog.
To watch highlights from, “Alive from New York,” click here.
